Beyoncé fans rush for "Cowboy Carter" tickets — what you need to know
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Beyoncé performs onstage during the "RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR" at Soldier Field on July 22, 2023. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
Thousands of Beyoncé fans queued up Tuesday for the highly anticipated "Cowboy Carter" tour coming to Soldier Field in May.
The latest: The Grammy award-winning artist added a third show (Sunday, May 18) to her Chicago stop.
- Public ticket sales start Friday, but presales started yesterday and continue for the rest of the week.
Zoom in: Presale tickets are offered by everyone from the artist to the venue to credit card customers.
- They give fans a real shot at tickets but don't offer discounts or guarantees.
Presales for the "Cowboy Carter" tour include:
BeyHive Presale: Anyone who signed up on Beyoncé's website before Feb 3. Started Tuesday at 12pm, ends Wednesday at 11am.
Citi Cardmember Presale: Open to Citicard credit and debit cardholders. Starts Wednesday at noon and ends Thursday at 11am.
Verizon Up Presale: Available to customers enrolled in the Verizon Up program. Same time as the Citi Cardmember presale.
Artist Presale: Available for anyone who signed up before Feb. 6. Starts Thursday at noon and ends at 10pm.
Yes, but: Presales are not a guarantee for tickets, as they only sell limited batches of tickets. The general ticket sales start at noon Friday.
- Tickets range from $76 to $4,000, before service fees.
Reality check: It's not easy to get tickets for shows in high demand, especially when fans are competing against secondary ticket sellers.
- Those brokers have been accused of using artificial intelligence-powered bots, programmed to gobble tickets up to aid secondary-market ticket sellers and mark up the prices.
What they're saying: "Beyoncé's tour will create another battleground across ticketing platforms as bots race to snatch up tickets to resell for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars more," DataDome CEO & co-founder Benjamin Fabre says.
- He points out that Ticketmaster and other platforms have cracked down on bots with extra security measures.
- "Beyoncé's tour will determine whether platforms have learned from past mistakes."
Ticketmaster and consumer advocates also warn fans of scams, which are on the uptick because of practices like speculative listings.
- Speculative ticket sales have become all the rage for prospective buyers. You don't have to wait in line and instead, you can buy from a secondary market, with a markup of course.
Yes, but: Most of these sellers don't have the tickets yet. They just assume they will. This has caused several consumer fraud incidents and the practice is banned in 22 states, including Illinois.
How to avoid scams: Vivid Seats suggests buying from trusted sources that offer a buyer guarantee. The company also says to avoid buying tickets on social media and check if the seller in question is a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers.
- That gives you some cover if your ticket-buying experience goes south.
- Also, don't buy tickets with cash or apps like Venmo. Vivid says often these types of transactions aren't legit.
- Vivid also says don't share photos of your actual tickets on social media because the info can be copied instantly and used by others. If you must brag, post your tickets after you are already in your seats.